App Store and Google Play Cracking Down on Flappy Bird Clones

The stores for both Google and Apple apps are swinging pipes at the recent abundance of clones to hit the market after Flappy Bird was pulled.

Polygon reports that a mobile game named "Flappy Dragon" was rejected by Google Play and its developer, Ken Carpenter, was notified of it being pulled. Google has told Carpenter that his game tried to leverage a recent, popular app, but Carpenter argues that if Flappy Bird itself is gone then his game shouldn't have to worry about anything. In related news, the iTunes store has also been thwarting the submission of games similar to Flappy Bird on the premise that they are merely trying to ride the coattails of the game's success.

Carpenter claimed that Google Play instantly pulled his game from the market and never sent any type of warning email, which Google claims that they always send to games that they believe have violated their standards. In a similar story, FlapThulhu: Flappy Madness' developer, Paul Priham, is trying to fight the removal of his game and is seeking to readmit it to the smartphone market. FlapThulhu was removed based on its namesake and that it plays extensively like Flappy Bird.